graceful (or not)

Tonight I pumped up the tires and adjusted the brakes and derailer on my bike, found my shoes and helmet, filled my Camelbak, and threw all of it in the trunk and headed up to Gatineau Park for a little ride. While I was there, I learned some new tricks with math. Specifically: kev + clipless pedals + going backwards + rocky hill = a bit of a disaster

I hadn’t been on my mountain bike for over a year, and I made a tiny little error when I shifted up instead of down while climbing a hill. Basically that killed my momentum dead, and I started to turn to the left as I stalled. I managed to kick out my right cleat, which helped me not at all because I had turned to the left, so was earthbound on the left side of the bike, whose pedal still had my left foot firmly attached. To break my fall I broke the cardinal rule and attempted to use my hands to cushion the blow.

Rocky hill 2 (still rocky, still a hill, no visible marks), kev 0 (wrenched wrist, skinless left knee)

After a couple minutes of excruciating pain, the desire to turn my stomach inside-out — from wanting to do nothing but throw up — subsided, and I continued on. The view from Champlain Point was totally worth it, and the dinner at Pierre and Carol’s after was awesome. These are the same folks I do my Wed night runs with, and I’ve missed them dearly. They were on the rocky hill, too, and to their credit they didn’t laugh at me until much later.

Next time will be better, and my pride is like my hand: a little bruised, but it’ll be fine.

I am soooo glad to be home.

7 thoughts on “graceful (or not)

  1. Ya, periodically I have a heart attack with my clipless. My first ride with them I fell over in the middle of an intersection (Sherbrooke and Decarie Boulevard) thanks to the pedals (and someone running a yellow, or orange, as they say here).

    And periodically I turn the wrong way and panic-rip my feet from the pedals. Fortunately my tension is set to panic, so it works.

    Woops, joan wants her laptop back ;-).

    Welcome home kev!

  2. right. clip-less pedals is what I meant. after my ride I adjusted the tension a little, as well as my rear brake, which was surprisingly ineffectual going downhill (which is bad). I’ll get the hang of the pedals after a couple rides (I hope). first time I used them, I ran into a tree. excellent object lesson on how not to kick out, let me tell ya.

    And thanks for the welcome back! We must get you guys back here for some grilled tofu in black bean sauce w/ roasted veggies!

  3. Heh – I’m not sure. I vowed not to give the nhl a dime this year, and they’d get a license cut of my purchase. 🙂 If I do, I’ll let ya know, and would definitely be up for a thrashing or two at the hands of your Flyers 🙂

  4. I’m totally thinking of ditching my clipless pedals this year. I don’t think they help me enough to compensate for the pain of the occasional argh-fuck-drop.

  5. im one of those people who never made the transition from clips to clipless..

    i think i don’t regret it 🙂

  6. yay!! Without clipless shoes… that’s one less pair of Kj’s shoes in the front hall!! More room for me!!
    Mama’s goin’ shoppin’!

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